A white Florida woman who fatally shot a Black neighbor through her front door during an ongoing dispute over the neighbor’s boisterous children faces sentencing Monday for her manslaughter conviction.

Susan Lorincz, 60, was convicted in August of killing 35-year-old Ajike “A.J.” Owens by firing a single shot from her .380-caliber handgun in June 2023. Lorincz faces a maximum sentence of 30 years in state prison because a firearm was used.

The shooting was the culmination of a long-running argument between the two neighbors over Owens’ children playing in a grassy area at both of their houses in Ocala, about 80 miles (130 kilometers) northwest of Orlando.

    • catloaf@lemm.ee
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      52
      ·
      edit-2
      20 hours ago

      And loose gun laws, and racism, and the media stoking fear.

      Edit: I’m guessing she lived alone and had nothing better to do with her time, so let’s throw a lack of social support on the pile too.

  • Flocklesscrow@lemm.ee
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    80
    arrow-down
    1
    ·
    22 hours ago

    “Unhinged Florida Boomer destroys lives…faces consequences of own actions”

    • horse_battery_staple@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      1
      ·
      10 hours ago

      Lonely and fearful was likely what her life was before she murdered that poor neighbor. The system failed her and now it’s failing her other neighbors by not giving her life in a mental health facility away from the public. She should have been put into a care home away from access to firearms a long time ago and likely A.J would still be alive.

  • actually@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    21
    arrow-down
    4
    ·
    23 hours ago

    I followed this news story and “a long running argument” between two people was not my takeaway ?

    • statler_waldorf@sopuli.xyz
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      60
      ·
      23 hours ago

      Yeah, it seemed like a disturbed old lady hurling abuse and calling the cops on everyone in the neighborhood, especially the kids who were playing in an empty yard, that she did not own, next door to the woman’s apartment. The kids had permission from the owner of the land and he even played sports with them there.

      There’s video of her trying to get the cops to trespass a man out of the parking lot while they interviewed him about a prior complaint she made against the kids playing.

    • snooggums@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      21
      arrow-down
      2
      ·
      edit-2
      23 hours ago

      ‘Long running argument’ is not referring to the one encounter when she murdered her neighbor, but the ongoing conflict across a long period of time like months or years.

      • actually@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        44
        arrow-down
        2
        ·
        23 hours ago

        she had long running arguments with most of her neighbors and the person killed was not in “greater argument” than the many kids and adults who were verbally abused over years.

        This is my mini hill I am standing on today: AP press normalized a neighborhood terror.

        • snooggums@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          12
          ·
          edit-2
          22 hours ago

          I was commenting on only the duration off the ‘argument’. They certainly minimized her shitty behavior, and I used ‘murdered’ intentionally to counter that.

          I’ll help you defend that hill.

    • HellsBelleOP
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      12
      ·
      23 hours ago

      In the video of her first interrogation, shown to jurors Wednesday, Lorincz tells detectives she’d previously argued with Owens about her children playing loudly and leaving toys outside her home. But she tells police the situation escalated on June 2, 2023, after she confronted the children about the noise and threw their roller skates. CNN

      The confrontation was the latest in a dispute between Lorincz and Owens over the latter’s children playing in a grassy area near both of their houses. Lorincz said in the interview she had been harassed for most of the three years she lived in the neighbourhood. AP

      Woods said the shooting happened during an apparent “neighborhood feud” that had been going for sometime between the suspect and the victim.

      Records show that 911 had been called a half-dozen times since 2021 involving Lorincz and Owens. In two cases – February 2022 and April 2023 – Lorincz called 911 because she was upset that Owens’ dog was on her property, and called months later to report that Owens had repeatedly opened her mailbox. She told deputies, according to the report, that she was not missing any mail. Fox

      • actually@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        12
        arrow-down
        1
        ·
        23 hours ago

        That simply does not represent the sheer terror, the troublemaking of op. It’s a partial snapshot. This woman terrorized her neighbors for years

        • HellsBelleOP
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          6
          ·
          22 hours ago

          You said …

          I followed this news story and “a long running argument” between two people was not my takeaway ?

          My reply listing media quotes was to that.

          • actually@lemmy.world
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            2
            ·
            22 hours ago

            Fair enough, but I was all riled up over those two words on an otherwise excellent article.

            I just happen to think those two words are very important

    • Todd Bonzalez@lemm.ee
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      24
      arrow-down
      3
      ·
      15 hours ago

      Why is it weird to take note of when white people murder Black people over petty squabbles? Lynching is a long-standing practice in America, and it’s worth noting that it hasn’t stopped happening.

      • Mr_Blott@feddit.uk
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        3
        arrow-down
        4
        ·
        8 hours ago

        Turn it round -

        Black man who fatally shot white neighbor

        If that sounds like racist goading, it does the other way too

        Yanks are fucking weird about people’s skin. Sort yourselves out

    • FabledAepitaph@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      2
      ·
      10 hours ago

      Agreed. Maybe race had nothing to do with it, but the news headline obviously suggests it is. If it was racism, why not just call it out instead if alluding to it?